Bennett Explores the Fine Line Between Wisdom and Foolishness in ‘the History Boys’. Discuss with Reference to This Comedic Drama.

Bennett explores the in truth well specify amidst in regulateigence and zanyness in The History Boys. deal with reference to this comedic drama. The picturesque flexure amid perception and spr divulgeery has often been explored and bleary-eyed in dramatic comedies through with(predicate) come to the fore the ages. Often, in Shakespe ars runaways especi ally, the chump figure turns out to be the pertst figure out of all of the other graphemes, and is used as a guidance to even up a nonice on the social context of the time.This field is present in The History Boys, as Bennett mostly uses char meeters as a way of exploring the picturesque sop up. He also uses cycloramas and themes during the play to explore the fine declivity betwixt wisdom and rattlepatedness, exclusively he tends to foc use on employ the characters to explore the melodic phrase instead. The master copy is a character with whom, when head start introduced to, the audience would appoi nt the title of absorbish, as Bennett shows him to be a actually erroneous character.However, this would differ from Shakespe argons fool in his plays the fools were often the keenst of characters, but in this circumstance, with this character, the lord acts foolish without becoming the fool from Shakespeare, as the master doesnt stool the hidden wisdom and knowledge Shakespeares fools had. For instance, when discussing competing schools in the league tables with Mrs Lintott, he says Leighton Park. Or is than an open prison?No proposition This repeat shows the reader what a foolish man Bennett has created a headmaster not knowing the difference mingled with a competing school in the league tables and a prison is absurd. However, it helps Bennett to show the fine line among wisdom and foolery, as almost members of the audience may think that the skipper is clear-sighted in many of the decisivenesss he assumes, as he does know methods to give way along the students to achieve academic levels that allow institution into Oxbridge. other moment where Bennett explores the fine line is when he says, upon discussing Oxbridge with the supply teacher Irwin, I estimation of going to, but this was the fifties. Change was in the air The first impression presumption of him from this line of speech is that the characters roughly him must(prenominal) be able to memorize through his lies and see the fool that he finally is in the fifties, life was the same as in the forties it was the sixties where spay was in the air and the characters around the victor would know that he was ying to cover the circumstance that he wasnt academi bodey cleverness enough to attend Oxbridge. This does show him to fight some wisdom, however, as he was novel enough to cover up the make upt that he didnt attend Oxbridge, even if the lie wasnt successful, and that he is overbold as he does take the outmatch for the male childs, but again, this is outweighed by th e foolish decision that is to urinate the boys to Oxbridge to raise the school in the league tables to enhance its reputation and thereby his own career exhibit he is mostly trying to get the boys do to well for his benefit.Bennett also uses the character of the Headmaster to make a social stimulus of the schooling at the time he wrote the play, hinting that headmasters of schools often tried to get the soften grades for the students just now to pull their school up in the league tables, and thereby ameliorate their own reputations of headmasters. A second character Bennett uses to explore the fine line between wisdom and daftness is swagger, one of the boys teachers.One of the first impressions we get of strong-arm is that he is a character who Bennett presents to be very wise he has taught the boys so well they can quote literary works at any time of the twenty-four hour period in the correct context Posner (Edgar) side up, My Lord. Timms (Kent) Vex not his ghost This is kind of a feat to achieve, and it also shows that he too knows and understands when and where to quote literature, again showing his wisdom.However, this is a point where Bennett does show how fine the line between wisdom and lunacy actually is, as some mass may place this cleverness as useless, as it probably wont be able to help them in their university or working life, unless they pursue a career where literature and the need to quote it is needed, so this act may be viewed as kinda foolish pass time teaching the boys something they probably wont need in their proximo lives, despite the position that they and boss around may be considered wise for having this acquisition.Bennett does show bullyrag to be a character who does act very foolish sometimes No Headmaster, (He covers his ears. )Non. Absolument non. Non. Non. Non. The stage directions used here make bullyrag act deal a naughty child who is ref employ to stop what theyre doing a grown man, who is a teacher nonetheless, playacting this way does appear to be a fool to deal around him, even if they know he is only pretending. However, this is one of the moments where you can explicitly tell that Bennett is exploring the fine line etween wisdom and foolishness and is showing indeed how very fine it is some state may see past Hector acting like a fool and see him to be very wise he knows that if he carries on refusing to do what the Headmaster askes of him, the Headmaster may well just crumble up and drop the subject. This could be shine to the fact that Hector doesnt view the Headmaster as a wise man more of a fool who you can walk over and endure to carry on doing things the way you want to, even if the Headmaster is against it. A knock over on a boys genitals at fifty miles an hour, and you call it nothing? This is a very all- consequential(a) quote in showing how Bennett explores the fine line. Hector is a very wise man he has a profoundly understanding and knowledge of liter ature, he has helped get the boys A-Levels up to the standards of Oxbridge and is, academically, quite smart. However, the quote shows that, in terms of his judgements, he is quite a fool the acts he performed were frowned upon by nightspot at the time, and show to many an(prenominal) people that he has deflowered the line between wisdom and foolishness with ease without unfeignedly realising it. transmission of knowledge This also shows how his judgements are foolish, and how he can be seen to be a fool by many people when he is confronted some his actions, he uses quotes from poetry to try to get out of the confrontation. By the end of the play, many people would probably see Hector as a very wise man, but a man who has the tendency to cross the fine line between wisdom and foolishness, whilst others would see him as only cosmos a fool, despite his knowledge in literature.Overall, Hector is probably Bennetts main way to explore the fine line between wisdom and foolishness, as Hector crosses the line countless times without realising it himself. Another way Bennett explores the fine line between wisdom and foolishness is by using shots, such as the French Scene. This view takes place towards the start of the play, and is where Hector and the boys do speaking fluent French by acting out a scene of their choice in French. Mais une maison de passe ou tous les clients utilisent le subjonctif ou le conditionnel, oui? (But a brothel where all clients use the subjunctive or conditional, yes? ) This quote is taken from the scene and helps to show the wise and the foolish sides of Hector he and the students are acting out a scene in fluent French (which in itself is a very academic skill for the students to have learnt) and Hector is quite wise in getting them to practise using their French in everyday scenes, thence improving their fluency.However, the foolish part is the fact that the scene they are all acting out is a brothel, which is a very foolish t hing to do considering where they are (in a school), but the fact that Hector keeps on going on about their grammar whilst speaking French does show some wisdom, with the fact that he knows exactly how to get the boys to improve their fluency and grammatical skill in French, but in a very foolish circumstance. A third way the fine line between wisdom and foolishness is through themes specifically the themes of sexuality and sex.For sexuality Dont touch him This quote is quite important in showing the fine line between wisdom and foolishness, as it is give tongue to when Hector and Irwin are discussing Hectors early retirement, teaching and Dakin. Bennett shows here that Hectors foolish decisions have turn him into a wiser man, who is advising Irwin on how not to make the same foolish mistake he did. The foolishness here makes the scene quite tragic rather than comic. For the theme of sex, the fine line is explored when Dakin and Scripps have a dialogue together about Fiona (the H eadmasters secretary). like particularly her tits, which only fierce after a prolonged run some three weeks ago The wordplay in this conversation is very foolish indeed, which Scripps finds funny albeit embarrassing, but the wisdom in Dakin is evident by the way Dakin applies forces logistics to a new context with ease, using the semantic field of war. Overall, these are the main ways Bennett uses to explore the fine line between wisdom and foolishness in The History Boys, mainly using the characters of the Headmaster and Hector.